Modern family: More courts allowing 3 parents of 1 child

Courts or legislatures in at least a dozen states have declared that some children have three parents. It's an arrangement sometimes called "tri-parenting."

While the cases are rare, they have appeared in states from Florida to Alaska.

Advocates say legal recognition reflects the realities of some families.

They include gay couples having a child with a friend, and a man seeking to remain in a paternal role after DNA shows someone else fathered the child he's raising. New York's first "tri-custody" ruling involved a husband, his wife and a female neighbor who had all become romantic partners and set out as three to have a child.

But some courts and experts have raised qualms that more parents could mean more parents could mean more conflict.